Among the Arabian and later alchemists we find attempts made to collate compounds by specific properties, and it is to these writers that we are mainly indebted for such terms as "alkali," " sal," &c. The mineral acids, hydrochloric, nitric and sulphuric acids, and also aqua regia (a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids) were discovered, and the vitriols, alum, saltpetre, sal-ammoniac, ammonium carbonate, silver nitrate (lunar caustic) became better known.
Another defect arising during curing and fermentation is the efflorescence of salts on the surface, a phenomenon known as " saltpetre "; light brushing and spraying with a weak solution of acetic acid are effective remedies.
Appointed regisseur des poudres in 1 775, he not only abolished the vexatious search for saltpetre in the cellars of private houses, but increased the production of the salt and improved the manufacture of gunpowder.
Arsenic, saltpetre, alum, naphtha and sulphur may be collected in the volcanic districts.
As found in nature, saltpetre generally forms aggregates of delicate acicular crystals, and sometimes silky tufts; distinctly developed crystals are not found in nature.
Bitumen and petroleum have been found; graphite is plentiful, and sulphur, salt, saltpetre and lime are also procured.
By fusing iron with saltpetre and extracting the melt with water, or by adding a solution of ferric nitrate in nitric acid to strong potash, an amethyst or purple-red solution is obtained which contains potassium ferrate.
Chapra is the centre of trade in indigo and saltpetre, and conducts a large business by water as well as by rail.
Chemically pure sodium nitrate can be obtained by repeated recrystallization of Chile saltpetre or by synthesis.
Chile saltpetre, cubic nitre or sodium nitrate, NaNO,, occurs under the same conditions as ordinary saltpetre in deposits covering immense areas in South America, which are known locally as caliche or terra salitrosa, and abound especially in the provinces of Tarapaca and Antofagasta in Chile.
For sodium nitrite see Nitrogen; for sodium nitrate see Saltpetre; for the cyanide see Prussic Acid; and for the borate see Borax.
For the nitrite, see Nitrogen, for the nitrate see Saltpetre and for the cyanide see Prussic Acid; for other salts see the articles wherein the corresponding acid receives treatment.
Formerly famous for its carpets and its oil of roses, Kairawan is now known in northern Africa rather for copper vessels, articles in morocco leather, potash and saltpetre.
Glauber showed how to prepare hydrochloric acid, spiritus salis, by heating rock-salt with sulphuric acid, the method in common use to-day; and also nitric acid from saltpetre and arsenic trioxide.
He also prepared potassium chlorate and attempted to use it in the manufacture of gunpowder as a substitute for saltpetre.
Hence its synonyms, "wall-saltpetre" and "lime-saltpetre"; from its disintegrating action on mortar, it is sometimes referred to as "saltpetre rot."
Hydrated sulphates occur at several localities in the province of Madrid and in other provinces of Spain, and at Miihlingen in Aargau, and copious deposits of glauberite, the double sulphate of sodium and calcium, are met with in the salt-mines of Villarrubia in Spain, at Stassfurt, and in the province of Tarapaca, Chile, &c. A native nitrate of soda is obtained in great abundance in the district of Atacama and the province of Tarapaca, and is imported into Europe in enormous quantities as cubic nitre for the preparation of saltpetre.
In practice the theoretical quantity of acid and Chile saltpetre is not used, but the charge is so regulated that the mixture of acid and neutral sodium sulphate formed in the retort remains liquid at the temperature employed, and consequently can be readily removed.
In subsequent receipts saltpetre and turpentine make their appearance, and the modern "carcass composition," containing sulphur, tallow, rosin, turpentine, saltpetre and crude antimony, is a representative of the same class of mixtures, which became known to the Crusaders as Greek fire but were more usually called wildfire.
In the combined state nitrogen is fairly widely distributed, being found in nitre, Chile saltpetre, ammonium salts and in various animal and vegetable tissues and liquids.
Iodine is obtained either from kelp (the ashes of burnt seaweed) or from the mother-liquors obtained in the purification of Chile saltpetre.
It had long been known that under certain conditions large quantities of nitrate (saltpetre) are formed on exposed heaps of manure, &c., and it was supposed that direct oxidation of the ammonia, facilitated by the presence of porous bodies, brought this to pass.
It has been supposed that the novelty introduced by Callinicus was saltpetre, but this view involves the difficulty that that substance was apparently not known till the 13th century, even if it were capable of accounting for the properties attributed to the wet fire.
It is a busy railway junction, and its inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, wine-growing and the manufacture of soda, matches and saltpetre.
It is an important industrial centre, carrying on cotton weaving and spinning, tanning, distilling, and the manufacture of coffee, sugar, manure and saltpetre.
Its chief commercial sources are the salt deposits at Stassfurt in Prussian Saxony, in which magnesium bromide is found associated with various chlorides, and the brines of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, U.S.A.; small quantities are obtained from the mother liquors of Chile saltpetre and kelp. In combination with silver it is found as the mineral bromargyrite (bromite).
Its chief mineral products are coal, nitre, sulphur, alum, soda, saltpetre, gypsum, porcelain-earth, pipe-clay, asphalt, petroleum, marble and ores of gold, silver, mercury, copper, iron, lead, zinc, antimony, cobalt and arsenic. The principal mining regions are Zsepes-Giimor in Upper Hungary, the Kremnitz-Schemnitz district, the Nagybanya district, the Transylvanian deposits and the Banat.
Of these sodium stannate, Na2Sn03, is produced industrially by heating tin with Chile saltpetre and caustic soda, or by fusing very finely powdered tinstone with caustic soda in iron vessels.
On the large scale it is obtained by distilling Chile saltpetre with concentrated sulphuric acid in horizontal cast iron stills, the vapours being condensed in a series of stoneware Woulfe's bottles.
Ordinary Saltpetre or Potassium Nitrate, KN03, occurs, mingled with other nitrates, on the surface and in the superficial layers of the soil in many countries, especially in certain parts of India, Persia, Arabia and Spain.
Salt, saltpetre and marble are the principal mineral products.
Saltpetre is largely refined in Tirhoot, Saran and Champaran, and is exported both by rail and river to Calcutta.
Saltpetre is now the only important product.
Saltpetre may be made to act as a nitrite by dissolving it in water in the strength of about fifty grains to the ounce, soaking blotting-paper in the solution and letting the paper dry.
Silk goods, saltpetre, gunpowder, leather, &c., are also manufactured.
Since potassium nitrate is generally more serviceable than the sodium salt, whose deliquescent properties inhibit its use for gunpowder manufacture, the latter salt, of which immense natural deposits occur (see below (2) Chile saltpetre), is converted into ordinary saltpetre in immense quantities.
Sulphuric acid may be applied as such on the ores placed in lead, brick, or stone chambers; or as a mixture of sulphur dioxide, nitrous fumes (generated from Chile saltpetre and sulphuric acid), and steam, which permeates the ore resting on the false bottom of a brick chamber.
The "Old Cave" contains the saltpetre works, and ends in a remarkable chamber exactly 144 ft.
The acid is found to exist to a slight extent in the free condition in some waters, but chiefly occurs in combination with various metals, as nitrates, principally as nitre or saltpetre, KN03, and Chile saltpetre, NaNO 3.
The chief applications of Chile saltpetre are in the nitric acid industry, and in the manufacture of ordinary saltpetre for making gunpowder, ordinary Chile saltpetre being unsuitable by reason of its deliquescent nature, a property, however, not exhibited by the perfectly pure salt.
The chief exports are rice, indigo, linseed and other seeds, saltpetre and tobacco.
The demand for saltpetre as an ingredient of gunpowder led to the formation of saltpetre plantations or nitriaries, which at one time were common in France, Germany, and other countries; the natural conditions were simulated by exposing heaps of decaying organic matter mixed with alkalies (lime, &c.) to atmospheric action.
The exact date of discovery is not known; but early records show it to have been preempted by a Dr Adams in 1812 for the manufacture of saltpetre, and his vats and hoppers are still to be seen.
The former, "fire-air," or oxygen, he prepared from "acid of nitre," from saltpetre, from black oxide of manganese, from oxide of mercury and other substances, and there is little doubt but that he obtained it independently a considerable time before Priestley.
The general trade and manufactures are considerable, including woollen (stockings and cloth), linen and cotton goods, leather, paper, saltpetre, and dyeing.
The minerals chiefly mined besides gold are diamonds and coal, but the country possesses also silver, iron, copper, lead, cobalt, sulphur, saltpetre and many other mineral deposits.
The more important picric powders are melinite, believed to be a mixture of fused picric acid and gun-cotton; lyddite, the British service explosive, and shimose, the Japanese powder, both supposed to be identical with the original melinite; Brugere's powder, a mixture of 54 parts of ammonium picrate and 45 parts of saltpetre; Designolle's powder, composed of potassium picrate, saltpetre and charcoal; and emmensite, invented by Stephen Emmens, of the United States.
The nitre thus refined is exported chiefly from Valparaiso, whence the name of "Chile saltpetre."
The political convulsions of Italy in 1799 brought Breislak to Paris, where he remained until 1802, when, being appointed inspector of the saltpetre and powder manufactories near Milan, he removed to that city.
There are several factories for pressing cotton, and for cleaning coffee, oilcake presses, tanneries and saltpetre refineries.
There are several indigo factories and saltpetre refineries, and a tobacco factory.
Wall-saltpetre or lime saltpetre, calcium nitrate, Ca(N03)2, is found as an efflorescence on the walls of stables; it is now manufactured in large quantities by fixing atmospheric nitrogen, i.e.
When, at the beginning of the French Revolution, the deficiency in the supply of saltpetre became a serious matter, he was placed at the head of the commission entrusted with the development of its production in French territory, and another commission on which he served had for its object the improvement of the methods of iron manufacture.
With the same object, red lead and saltpetre are used in the mixture for potash-lead glass.